Japan Dec monetary base rises 1.8 pct yr/yr - BOJ

(For more stories on the financial crisis click [ID:nCRISIS])

TOKYO, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Japan's monetary base rose 1.8 percent in December from a year earlier, increasing for the fourth straight month, Bank of Japan data showed on Tuesday.

Current account deposits at the central bank jumped 14.7 percent in December after an 11.3 percent rise in November.

The pace of rise in the balance has accelerated after the BOJ began offering 0.1 percent interest on excess reserves that commercial banks park with the central bank from mid-November, a temporary step aimed at facilitating smooth fund supply. The measure expires in mid-April.

Details are as follows (percent, year-on-year, with final column showing month-on-month change seasonally adjusted):

Monetary BOJ note Coins Current Bank Month-

base issuance in circ deposits resrvs on-month Dec +1.8 +0.5 +0.4 +14.7 +11.2 +0.1 Nov +1.9 +1.1 +0.5 +11.3 +10.2 +7.9 Oct +1.4 +0.8 +0.6 +7.1 +34.5 +6.6 Sept +0.9 +0.4 +0.7 +5.4 +2.6 +15.8 Average outstanding monetary base: Dec: 92.4351 trillion yen ($990.4 billion) Nov: 88.8562 trillion yen For the full tables, click here (Reporting by Leika Kihara; Editing by Chris Gallagher)